


Would Time in This Place Be Gold or Beast?

by orphan_account



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: LIKE NO ROMANCE TYPE STUFF, M/M, apparently i wrote this last year, i don't remember, just take this trash, literally nothing happens, sigh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:42:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22151242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The emo idiot and the blonde-fake-playboy idiot interact for like 1000 words. I don't even know folks just take this.
Relationships: Keefe Sencen/Tam Song
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	Would Time in This Place Be Gold or Beast?

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the song Chronosaurus by Stray Kids. It doesn't even fit it's just my favorite song.

Tam groaned loudly and hid his face in his hands. 

How in the world did he end up in this situation?

So, yes he ran off to join the Neverseen. And yes, Keefe Sencen has experience with that. So when Keefe heard about a possible Neverseen hideout in the Neutral Territories, it makes a decent amount of sense that he would light leap there without thinking so he could try and make Tam come back to the Black Swan. Keefe knows how horrible being a Neverseen member is. It makes sense that he would try to save someone else from it. 

So that's exactly what sympathy driven and reckless Keefe Sencen did. And now they're both stuck in a tiny cave. With an entrance blocked by boulders too heavy to levitate away. And yes, Tam has tried. Several times. 

How exactly did this rescue mission turn out so badly?

Well, FIRST the crystal to the hideout was found by the Black Swan, who started to formulate a plan to save Tam. Linh and the alicorns were moved to a safe place so that the Neverseen would have no leverage to make Tam stay with them. However, according to Keefe, the actual rescue was taking too long to plan and "the Neverseen change hideouts quickly, they could be gone by now!" So Keefe took it upon himself to light leap into the hideout in a spectacular moment of "FUCK IT", setting off a panic and flurry of flashing weapons. 

THEN he grabbed Tam's wrist and dragged him away, Tam protesting and yelling. When Keefe explained that Linh was safe, he calmed down slightly. But still! THEY WERE BEING ATTACKED. So Tam kept screaming, just at a slightly lesser volume. 

AFTER THAT their escape route (a leaping crystal) was shattered by a melder blast from Lady Gisela. Who sputtered loudly when she saw her son. Tam yelled at Keefe some more while Keefe cursed loudly. "THAT SORT OF LANGUAGE! IN FRONT OF YOUR MOTHER, SENCEN!" Tam remembers saying that clearly. It was a nice, stupidly snappy sort of comment. It's the only thing he's pleased about right now. 

LASTLY, they ran out of the hideout, ducking for cover in a cave, when the entrance um...CAVED IN and left them trapped. And did Tam mention that the cave is tiny? CAUSE IT'S TINY! Like, the size of a fucking twin sized bed. 

Tam forces himself to breathe steadily, shaking both from the near-death situation and anger. 

Keefe waves a hand in front of his face to get Tam's attention. "You okay there Bangs Boy? Your expression seems a little...dark. Get it? Cause you're a Shade?" 

Tam stares at him. Did he just...?

Keefe nods, a teasing smile playing against his lips. "I did." His ice-blue eyes sparkle. 

It's a stupid pun. One of those puns that are so stupid that they aren't even funny stupid. Just unoriginal and dumb and terrible. Not even on dad jokes level. The worst of the worst of the worst of jokes. But seriously? The fact that Keefe is trying to make stupid puns at a time like this is laughable. 

So Tam laughs. Well, actually it's more of a snort/giggle that turns into wheezing which turns into no sound at all, just gasping for air. "That- that-" Tam takes a moment to breathe. "That was so stupid I can't...I can't." 

Suddenly Tam realizes that he's laughing at one of Keefe Sencen's jokes. His annoying, stupid, ridiculous, shadow vapor check refusing, rival. His laughter cuts off abruptly. This idiot got him stuck in a cave and now they're going to die of hunger and it'll be horrible and...ugh. Imminent death is such a mood. 

Keefe sighs and Tam realizes that Keefe's hand is locked around his arm. "I could feel some happiness for maybe two seconds and now it's back to brooding angrily. What a shame."

Tam rips his arm out of Keefe's grasp, muttering about stupid Empaths and their stupid emotion reading tricks. He hides his face in his arms so that Keefe can't see the frustrated blush making its way up Tam's cheekbones. He's in a state of slightly shocked delirium from the rescue and can't handle Keefe's dumb comments right now. Or, at least. That's what he's telling himself.

"Sorry," Keefe says after a moment. Reminiscent of Tam, he buries his head in his arms. It's sort of cu-- nope. Ignore that thought. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

Keefe’s smile drops away, revealing a tired, grumpy, angry version of him that Tam hasn't really seen before. He feels like he’s lost something. But as much as he wants to, Tam can’t feel sorry for Keefe right now. Keefe has messed up, bad. And they’re both going to pay for it. 

“Why did you have to come running to my rescue?” Tam says, his tone softening. He can't forget that this was supposed to be a rescue attempt just because he's frustrated.

Keefe doesn’t answer, just turns away from Tam and leans his forehead against the wall of the cave. He grumbles something about ungratefulness and stupid Bangs Boys. 

Tam pretends not to hear. He’s too exhausted to snap back. 

They sit in tense silence for several minutes. As night falls, the temperature drops unexpectedly. Soon, they’re both shivering pathetically and gritting their teeth against the cold. Tam remembers learning how to regulate his body temperature at Exilium and his shivering abruptly stops. Keefe however, isn’t doing so well. He draws his cape tightly across his shoulders and groans. “Why is it so cold?!” He runs his fingers through his thick, strangely fluffy, blonde hair. At least his scalp won’t freeze. 

Tam’s hair doesn’t have the same quality, but he considers his silver-tipped bangs to be a much hotter look. His mind drifts to Linh. He wonders if she's okay, wherever she is. She means more to him than anything. More than his terrible family, more than his friends, more than his own life. 

But Tam’s life has always seemed a bit worthless to him, so maybe he shouldn’t compare it to Linh. Ever since they were old enough to understand why their parents seemed to hate them, he’d learned to harden himself to the world. Trust no one and let no one mean anything to you. But Linh...he’d noticed her internalizing the insults. She started to believe that she was nothing. 

Still though, Linh was strong. During their time in banishment, away from their parents, he’d noticed the life return to her eyes. The sadness chased away by the lack of insults and harsh words from their parents. And Tam would do anything to keep her from relapsing into the broken Linh of before.

She was the only person in the world he let himself truly care about. 

“Tam, are you mad at me?” Keefe’s voice brings him out of his thoughts. 

“No?” Tam says, confused. 

Keefe shrugs and locks his piercing eyes into Tam’s. “I felt your mood shift and I was surprised that you weren’t very mad earlier so...”

”What do you mean?”

”Well usually when you’re around me, it’s always just like, ‘Anger! I hate Keefe so much!’ But right now...not so much.” The words come tumbling out of his mouth quickly, like he’s nervous about saying them out loud. Keefa smiles hesitantly.

Tam shrugs and thinks about it. Something changed between them the day Tam joined the Neverseen. He’s been trying not to think about it—and can tell Keefe's been doing the same—but he can’t help but remember how desperately Keefe pleaded with him to not go. The way he glanced frantically between his mom and Tam, shocked at what was going on. It was a very slight shift in their relationship, but Tam realizes that that day the two of them realized that they’re friends. In a strange bonded-by-shared-life-experiences sort of way. 

“I don’t hate you anymore,” he finally says. He doesn’t mention how moved he was by the realization that Keefe cared about him. That would make both of them uncomfortable. 

Keefe raises an eyebrow. “I don’t hate you either...so are we besties now? Do we need to make a new friendship name? Team Teefe maybe?” 

Tam forgets about anger entirely and snorts despite himself. “Shut up.” 

Keefe rolls his eyes and puts on a mock-hurt face. “Fine. But I’M STILL COLD!” 

Tam sighs. “What do you want to do idiot? Either learn body temperature regulation soon or we’ll have to cuddle.” There’s no heat behind the insult. 

“Okay, let’s cuddle!” Keefe moves closer.

Tam screams and moves away. “It was a JOKE Keefe!”

”It was your idea.”

”NOOOOOOOOOO!”

...

After several minutes of arguing Tam begrudgingly gives in.


End file.
